Complicated Game
by James McMurtry
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James McMurtry bestography
Complicated Game is ranked as the best album by James McMurtry.
(N.B. Bestographies include all albums by an artist (and their variations), but do not include albums ranked outside the top 100,000).
Listen to Complicated Game on YouTube
Complicated Game track list
The tracks on this album have an average rating of 79 out of 100 (all tracks have been rated).
Complicated Game rankings
Calculated from aggregate positions across 60,000 charts (2 million album rankings). Click to see how the rankings are calculated (Last updated: 4 hours ago)
| Year | Source | Chart | Rank | Rank Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 |  sssvnnn | Top 80 Music Albums of 2015 | 9/80 | 5 |
| 2026 |  Purplepash | Ranked listening log 2015 101-144 | 12/44 | - |
| 2026 |  paladisiac | 2010s, #201-300 | 93/100 | - |
| 2026 | cicadelic | Glide’s 20 Best Albums of 2015 | 10/40 | - |
| 2026 | paladisiac | top albums, #1801-1900* | 51/79 | - |
| 2026 | juanr1096 | Top 100 Music Albums of 2015 | 54/100 | 2 |
| 2026 |  zags7000 | Top 100 Music Albums of 2015 | 24/100 | 4 |
| 2025 | henrygreen0203 | Top 100 Music Albums of the 2010s | 50/100 | 10 |
| 2025 | cicadelic | Robert Christgau: Dean's List 2015 | 9/84 | - |
| 2025 | paladisiac | Top 68 Music Albums of 2015 | 20/68 | 4 |
| Total Charts: The total number of charts that this album has appeared in. | 45 | |||
| Total Rank Score: The total rank score. | 125 | |||
Complicated Game collection
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Complicated Game ratings
Average Rating = (n ÷ (n + m)) × av + (m ÷ (n + m)) × AVwhere:
av = trimmed mean average rating an item has currently received.
n = number of ratings an item has currently received.
m = minimum number of ratings required for an item to appear in a 'top-rated' chart (currently 10).
AV = the site mean average rating.
Showing latest 3 ratings for this album. | Show all 42 ratings for this album.
| Rating | Date updated | Member | Album ratings | Avg. album rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ! | 07/13/2026 09:51 | Exist-en-ciel | 16,297 | 70/100 |
| ! | 05/07/2026 00:07 | aadje_fof | 6 | 100/100 |
| ! | 02/05/2026 11:03 | TonySayers61 | 25,943 | 64/100 |
Rating metrics:
Outliers can be removed when calculating a mean average to dampen the effects of ratings outside the normal distribution. This figure is provided as the trimmed mean. A high standard deviation can be legitimate, but can sometimes indicate 'gaming' is occurring. Consider a simplified example* of an item receiving ratings of 100, 50, & 0. The mean average rating would be 50. However, ratings of 55, 50 & 45 could also result in the same average. The second average might be more trusted because there is more consensus around a particular rating (a lower deviation).
(*In practice, some albums can have several thousand ratings)
This album is rated in the top 7% of all albums on BestEverAlbums.com. This album has a Bayesian average rating of 75.1/100, a mean average of 75.8/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 75.8/100. The standard deviation for this album is 13.4.
Complicated Game favourites
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Complicated Game forum mentions
Purplepash 02/19/2021 10:23 in What album are you listening to right now? paladisiac 03/14/2017 21:01 in Albums You Added To Your Collection Today
samistake2ice 09/22/2015 16:01 in Top 10 Albums of 2015Complicated Game comments
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zags7000 06/19/2015 09:06 | #144179 | TOP COMMENT
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Simply put this is one of the best written albums you will find. Not much politic stuff here like some of his other albums but some great stuff and storytelling at its finest.
samistake2ice 09/28/2015 18:52 | #150639 | TOP COMMENT
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James McMurtry has always seemed "mature" in his song writing, despite albums titled Childish Things and Just Us Kids, but it's most evident in this album. Where in the past he's played the wise and angry voice of the common man against the politics of the elite, CG is a McMurtry who sounds much more tired and beaten down... and older. And although much of the political outrage isn't there, the album is still centered around societal issues. One of the best folk/country songwriters for the past 30 years, and I think this is his best album yet
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